Palestinian officials say they're "not surprised" by failure of Security Council members to reach agreement on UN membership application.

The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday that it was weighing its
next steps in wake of reports that the UN Security Council has failed to
reach consensus on the Palestinian application for membership in the
international organization.

Some PA officials in Ramallah said
they were "not surprised" by the failure of the UN Security Council
members to reach agreement on the Palestinian statehood bid, while
others expressed anger with the US Administration for scuttling the
application.

PA
President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to hold consultations with his top
aides in the coming days to discuss the Palestinian response to the
failure of the statehood bid, a PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post.

The official said that US Administration officials have been talking to
top representatives of the PA in the past few days about the need to
resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

According to the official, the Americans are trying to prevent a
scenario where Abbas would resign or dissolve the PA in protest against
the failure of the statehood bid in the Security Council.

Another official told the Post that the PA leadership was not surprised by the apparent failure of the statehood bid.

"The Americans have been threatening from day one to foil the
application for membership of a Palestinian state in the UN," the
official said. "Our plan now is to take the battle to the UN General
Assembly, where we are certain to score victory. This will allow us
access to many important UN agencies and organizations, including the
International Criminal Court."

PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said that the Palestinians were
hoping that at least nine members of the Security Council would support
the Palestinian membership request, which was submitted by Abbas on
September 23.

He pointed out that eight members of the 15-member Security Council had promised to vote in favor of the statehood bid.

PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki blamed the US Administration for the failure of the Palestinian statehood bid.

"We expected to get nine votes in the Security Council, but it's clear
now, with the US counter effort and huge intervention, that we are not
going to have these nine votes," Malki told The Associated Press.